HUNTINGTON BEACH – The Newport Harbor girls volleyball team kept itself in contention for the Sunset League championship with a four-set win over Huntington Beach on Tuesday in a league match at Huntington Beach High.
The Sailors perhaps also solidified their candidacy for a berth in the CIF Southern Section’s Division 1 playoffs.
Newport Harbor won the first set 25-14. Huntington Beach took the second set 27-25. The Sailors finished strong to win the third set 25-21 and fell behind 6-1 in the fourth set before getting hot and concluding the match with a 25-19 win.
The Sailors improved to 15-4 overall and 5-1 in the Sunset League. Their league loss was to Los Alamitos in five sets at Newport Harbor on Sept. 4. Los Alamitos went into this week 17-5 overall and 5-0 in league.
Newport Harbor plays at Los Alamitos on Sept. 29.
Huntington Beach is 10-12 overall and 2-4 in league.
The CIF Southern Section will place teams in its playoff divisions according to their rating established by the Massey Ratings System. The latest ratings released Tuesday had Newport Harbor at No. 4 in Southern Section girls volleyball (Huntington Beach is No. 56 among the more than 500 schools that play CIF-SS girls volleyball).
Division 1 last season was an eight-team division.
Sailors junior outside hitter Ella Olson, who committed to Texas, said the team’s mental attitude fueled their fourth-set rally.
“Our confidence came back,” Olson said. “The more we played, the more energy we got. We got better at coming together, trusting each other and everyone doing their part.”
Olson, who was All-Orange County first team last season, junior outside hitter Vladimira Kotzakov and sophomore outside hitter Piper Coady supplied many of the key points. Newport Harbor interchanged its setters, senior Talea Berry and junior Kinsley LaBony, both of whom were effective.
Sailors coach Pat Eaton appreciated the victory, with an eye on areas of improvement. Newport Harbor’s passing perhaps was not as crisp as it could be, and maybe players were out of position defensively on occasion.
Overall, Eaton, in his first season as Newport Harbor coach after a few years coaching at Tesoro, was pleased. Huntington Beach, like Newport Harbor, has a grand tradition in girls volleyball and Oilers coach Craig Pazanti has coached Huntington Beach and, earlier in his career, Mater Dei to CIF championships.
“I liked our toughness and resilience,” Eaton said. “We’ve got to play a little better, for sure. I thought we settled down late.
“We knew it was going to be tough. It’s hard to win here, right? It’s hard to win with Craig here, because he’s such a good coach.”
Huntington Beach, a Division 1 playoff team last season, played many non-seniors on Tuesday. The Oilers did get fine play from two seniors on Tuesday, outside hitters Elle Esko and Addison Williams.